As I Open My Eyes

Tue October 3, 2017, 7:30 PM

Tournées Film Festival is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S., the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), the French American
Cultural Fund, Florence Gould Foundation and Highbrow Entertainment.

Tunis, summer 2010, a few months before the Revolution: Farah, 18 years old, has just graduated and her family already sees her as a future doctor. But she doesn't have the same idea. She sings in a political rock band, has a passion for life, gets drunk, discovers love and her city by night against the wishes of her mother Hayet, who knows Tunisia and its dangers all too well.

Following her alt-rock band through the capital’s garages and bars, As I Open My Eyes offers a view of Tunisia teetering before the Arab Spring. Farah loves performing so much that she can’t help smiling through the lyrics’ furious nihilism.

But for all her passion, it’s unclear whether she’s weighed the risks of these punk provocations. “We all have worries!” her handsy lutenist boyfriend (Montassar Ayari) scoffs. “Why else would we play music?” Those around Farah strive to protect her from the adult world that we glimpse here only in abrupt, sometimes frustrating flashes. That blissful ignorance feels uneasy, then unsafe.

Director Leyla Bouzid’s camera establishes an easy intimacy, which soon gets interrupted by a cooler eye: a side character’s camcorder. Is his footage recording memories or gathering evidence? Here, adolescent drama takes on a dangerous political edge, and those anthems about oppressive confinement get real.

Switching to the perspective of Farah’s watchful mother, Hayet (Ghalia Benali), the film briefly misplaces its confidence — it’s like the cinematography gets the jitters. Still, Bouzid and co-writer Marie-Sophie Chambon invest this side of the intergenerational gap with empathetic energy; the song of innocence becomes one of experience. This debut feature earns its grown-up wisdom without selling out its youthful idealism. Bouzid hears a girl finding her voice, but she knows that the real question is, 'Who’s listening?'"